Page 100 of Vicious Luna

“Why not?” I scoff, pressing the cold tip of the barrel tighter against his skin. “You would.”

“You’re damn right I would,” he snarls, his eyes narrowing into slits. “You’re marked for death,freak. All of you monsters are.”

If I had any doubts over whether there was a sliver of humanity left in this man- a thread of care for me or the relationship we once shared- I don’t anymore. His words solidify that this effort was in vain; that there’s nothing I could do or say that would ever make him see past his own blind hatred of something he’s never even tried to understand.

It’s funny, for someone who always said fear is a weakness, Jonathan Knox has based his entire belief system around fear. And if that’s true, then he’s the weakest man I’ve ever known.

I could pull the trigger and end this now, but that would make me no better thanhim.

The echo of a memory suddenly bleeds into my mind;words Avery once uttered to me while she was locked in that cell.

“I’m not the one who’s a monster here,” I growl with a confident lift of my chin, refusing to let Jonathan Knox see how much he’s destroyed me. “You are.”

My ears register the sound of footsteps pounding overhead and the thunder of boots on the stairs; the rush of soldiers responding to the gunfire.Time’s up.In one fluid movement, I lower my gun from Jonathan’s chin and press the barrel to his kneecap instead, squeezing the trigger. He screams as the bone shatters, and I immediately push up to my feet and make a break for the door.

I press my hand over the wound in my side as I fling it open, sprinting through the hall toward the front door of the cabin. The moment I reach for the handle, a shot pops off from the staircase, splintered wood raining down over me as the bullet embeds itself in the doorframe a few inches from my head. In a burst of speed that I assume is credit to my wolf, I manage to yank the door open and dash outside, waving an arm overhead to give the signal to Cheyenne and Javi.

A rain of gunfire follows me as I sprint down the drive away from the cabin, two of The Guild’s black SUV’s hurtling in my direction. I dart between them, blocking out the pain lancing through my side while running as fast as I can to get to a parked vehicle further down the driveway for cover. I manage to dive behind it moments before I hear the crash of the SUV’s smashing into the safehouse, followed by the deafening boom of an explosion.

My ears ring as debris flies through the air, the heat of the blast scorching my skin like a sunburn. The pain in my side sharply increases, spreading through my chest like hellfire.

“Cam!” Lo yells, her voice muffled through the ringing in my ears as she rushes out from the forest with Javi and Chey right on her heels. She drops to her knees and skids to a stop infront of me, throwing out her hands to staunch the flow of blood from my side.

“Let me see,” Javi growls, tossing the detonator aside as he falls to his knees beside his mate and rucks up the hem of my shirt. He leans in to examine the wound closer, then rocks back on his heels, meeting my eyes. “It looks like it went straight through,” he provides. “That’s a good thing, means we don’t have to dig it out.”

I blink chaotically as his words register. If my injury isn’t life threatening, then why do I have this feeling of foreboding still sitting heavily on my chest, like something’s gone wrong?

Cheyenne pushes in on my other side, yanking a cellophane bag from her pocket and tearing it open, shoving a cookie at me. “Eat this, it’ll counteract the wolfsbane so you can heal,” she breathes.

I reach out to take it from her, sinking my teeth into the cookie right as the scarred-up guy who was partnered with Avery comes running up to us from out of nowhere, breathless and wide-eyed.

“Where’s Avery?” he pants.

I jerk upright, suddenly realizing what my intuition has been screaming at me since that bomb went off. “Wasn’t she with you?” I snarl, a wave of panic washing over me.

He blanches, shaking his head. “Sh-she went in after you, man. Said she felt your pain through the bond, so she went in through the cellar…”

“No, no, NO!” I grit out, shoving up to my feet with a roar. I don’t even think, I just move, ignoring the sharp slice of pain in my side as I hobble toward the crumbling remains of the safehouse, the acrid smoke stinging my throat.

She’s still alive, I know that much. I still feel her through the tether of our bond, but now I’m also now achingly aware of the fact that this pain isn’t just mine. I can feelhers, too, and the crushing weight of her fear. It’s like icy claws wrapping around my own throat, choking the life out of me.

I try to shove those feelings down in an effort to remain focused as I stumble up to the remains of the cellar door and start pawing debris out of the way, but the more I do, the more those feelings seem to increase. So, I change tact and let them in, opening myself up to absorbing all of the pain and fear rippling through the bond until my pulse is thundering so hard that it feels as if my heart might tear through my chest. If it helps her somehow, though, it’s worth it. I’d lay my life down for hers in an instant.

Madd suddenly appears beside me, his terrified gaze meeting mine. Words aren’t needed when that look of horror in his eyes reflects everything in my own, and he silently joins me in the frantic dig through the rubble, the two of us panting and grunting as we work together to find an opening.

Hold on, Luna. I’m coming.

44

Don’t panic.

I squeeze my eyes shut and draw a deep breath in as I repeat those two words over and over again in my mind, knowing that if I allow the fear to take hold, I’m a goner.

Don’t. Panic.

Of course, that’s easier said than done when I’ve got serious claustrophobia issues and I’ve just found myself trapped in a tight space with no way out.

My ears are ringing. There’s smoke filtering in from somewhere overhead. The stabbing pain I feel with each breath is a pretty good indication that I’ve cracked a rib or two, and I’m horribly disoriented, my vision blurring into some fucked up kaleidoscope effect as I blink my eyes open and try to get my bearings.

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